Comments on: step right up! bailout line starts here

By: PassagetoItaly

PassagetoItaly — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:12:44 +0000

Michelle,

I too am questioning where my bailout is…. Does the government want to bail me out of my school loans? Really, it brings into question of why they are being so caring to people who were greedy and wanting more than they could afford. It’s not fair to those who play by the rules…… I particularly love how some business are using the money to have their yearly bonuses.

Well it seems at least the economy is starting to look up and the big banks have paid back most of what *we* gave them…now for some real reform of the system!

By: Anali

Anali — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 16:09:16 +0000

I love that picture!! And I’ve been wondering about my bailout. I guess I’ll have to keep wondering.

Anali’s last blog post..The Psychology of Posting

Oh I’m sure the check’s in the mail, Anali

By: Diane Mandy

Diane Mandy — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:35:00 +0000

Thanks for the recommendation. I am off to improve my McCainesque comprehension!

I couldn’t resist one last jab at McCain….

By: joe@italyville

joe@italyville — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:33:15 +0000

the problem with the bail-out of the financial institutions (aside from the frivolous spending at corporate retreats and bonuses for CEOs that are driving their companies into the ground.... I thought bonuses were for doing a good job.) is that these institutions are taking the bail-out money and instead of using it to issue loans and get it back into the system, they are holding on to it because they are worried about the economy ????? the whole point of giving them money was to inject it back into the economy and get things rolling!! But what do you expect when you don't lay out the rules when saving someone's arse. I do feel sorry for the non-management employees of GM, Ford and Chrysler but as far a bail out for them..... they should have been making affordable, quality cars with GREAT gas mileage (not 30-40 mpg... but 100) instead of spending all their money lobbying in Washington for politicians to not pass laws increasing mpg requirements and sleeping with the oil companies for all these years. On a lighter note: Hi Michele! I feel much better now:) joe@italyville’s last blog post..Caffe’ alla Nonna Hee hee...glad you feel better Joe. Sometimes we really just do need to vent about these things; like you, I feel bad for the underlings (you know, the *real* workers) in the car companies, but yeah, if the higher-ups would've OK'd making good cars for the past several years.... Ugh. Che casino.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:19:36 +0000

Michelle, I want to know when my family and I get bail-out help. Our own economic crisis hasn't seen a silver lining yet with all the mula that went out to the financial institutions. Now with the pessing from the auto industry for some help, the dark clouds are getting thicker with no immediate help in site. If we, as citizens of the US are expected to budget our money and live within our means despite the continuing increase in the cost of living, why can't industry be told the same thing? Teresa’s last blog post..Tamales - Part 2 I'm totally with you, Teresa, and this in a time when Congress passed (and wants to pass more) stricter personal bankruptcy laws. I was always rather offended by the fact that millionaires and billionaires could file for bankruptcy protection through their companies, mostly (thinking Donald Trump) and really nothing ever changed in their lifestyles, etc., and then they turn around and make it harder for everyday working Americans to do the same. But now this is even a step beyond that since the government is actually giving these companies money. Mah.

By: Homebody at Heart

Homebody at Heart — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:17:29 +0000

Don’t forget the head english major in our government, our Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Paulson. Yep, that’s just what we want running our treasury department, a graduate in english with an MBA. Let’s see… seems to me there is someone else who has an MBA running our government? Oh that’s right, GW Bush! His big selling point in his first presidential campaign was that he was the one with experience in running a company! I think that the MBA program has to be seriously thought of as the biggest joke/ripoff ever invented by educational institutions and frankly, quite worthless based on those two gentlemen.

Well if I wasn’t skeptical about the MBA before….

By: Judith in Umbria

Judith in Umbria — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:15:02 +0000

It’s hard for me to express this in nice English (or Italian.) We are proposing to go in and rescue the ____ of a generation who have grown up presuming that there will always be someone to save their ____. They weren’t around for the savings and loan rout. Depression you take a pill for and recession is widely treated with hair growth formulas. They own apartments and houses that cost them millions, and as they would say, “the nut” was just manageable when they were doing their best ever, propped up by credit cards and hopes for big bonuses the rest of the time.
Should it be done? Maybe. They’re going to take us down with them even if we have lived like monks. But I think anyone who gets helped owes us the money and interest. It’s theater and this time the international audience didn’t buy it. We bid 700 billion and the answer was no. How much more can we scrape up?
I know a fair number of those kids with the McMansions and the Humvees etc. They got obscene bonuses not for increasing value, but for creating the illusion of increased value. It ll not hurt my feelings if those ugly too big houses now become boarding houses. I must have an ugly heart.

I think you have a heart that cries for justice and equality, Judith. If only more people had one.

By: City Girl

City Girl — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:25:04 +0000

Aha, I found the article — it’s an article on Merrill but on page two of the article, the NYT quotes Blythe Danner, who was on the JP Morgan team that invented synthetics. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/business/09magic.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em. I read her comments elsewhere too that said something about risk models not always reflecting CDO risks, but have not found that either yet. Still this is the main NYT article I was thinking of.

Anna is dead right. Agreed!

City Girl’s last blog post..Beauty Monday

Thank you! *Very* interesting read. I knew that JP Morgan was getting through all this pretty well, but I had no idea why….

By: ro

ro — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:22:10 +0000

I am the kitty, the kitty is me. This *is* my understanding of the bailout...and I feel guilty for not knowing, or understanding more. ro’s last blog post..Makeup, Dave Navarro & Law School There are a lot of intelligent people with the understanding of the kitty in this thing...and I'm afraid some of them are at the highest levels of our government. *They* should feel guilty!

By: City Girl

City Girl — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:31:28 +0000

Michelle — definitely a great overview. As for the subtleties, they break my head, though the NYT has had some good accessible articles on the subject lately — and I am thankful their writers have taken the time to break down some of those subtleties. One great point that they brought up recently, and of course I can’t find the article right now, is that the team that invented synthetic CDOs in 1997 were *very* aware of their potential risks. It was a team at JP Morgan incidentally, and the article talked about how keeping too many of those on any balance sheet was a very risky proposition, especially because the risk models were not equipped to reflect the true risk of a synthetic. As a result, JP Morgan never kept as many of those on its balance sheets as, say, Lehman or Merrill. The article also talked about the useful elements of CDOs because, when used for the purpose for which they were created (i.e. spreading risk) they are not terrible things when not abused and turned into the repackaging nightmare they have become. At the end of the day, it’s hard to remember that CDOs were not inherently an evil concept BUT that it was how they were used to abuse the system that makes them truly frightening in their impact. (sorry for the re-comment btw — I can get long-winded on the subject).

Anna — it is SO true that investment bankers can only see leverage. I am sorry about what happened to you — and you are right, information is the only way to protect yourself. I also agree with you that there are few safe places for money — I am not quite at the mattress point yet, but won’t consider anything beyond CDs or money market savings accounts, no matter how low their return may be.

City Girl’s last blog post..Beauty Monday

Please don’t apologize for commenting again! That’s what the comments are here for

That’s very interesting about the CDOs, particularly that JP Morgan was better positioned to use them, perhaps, more appropriately. If you do find that article, please pass it along (posting it here would be great since then others could read it too).

I’m still loving Anna’s comment about passive income….